GOP phone campaign is probed

April 11, 2006|By Courtney Flynn, Tribune staff reporter.

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office said Monday it is checking whether an anonymous telephone campaign paid for by House Republicans that targeted Democratic lawmakers was a violation of the state's election law.

"We have received a complaint," said Melissa Merz, a spokeswoman for Madigan. "We are reviewing it and we are very concerned."

Constituents of at least a dozen House Democrats throughout the state received the anonymous phone calls last week, said Rep. Kathy Ryg (D-Vernon Hills) and Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park) at a news conference Monday.

Ryg and May said the calls, many of which were automated, unfairly accused them and some of their colleagues of raiding the state's pension funds, cutting veterans benefits and sweeping money out of special state funds.

The calls did not indicate that the House Republicans paid for them, although they later acknowledged they were responsible. The calls were "a way to educate voters about the budget process," said David Dring, a spokesman for the House Republicans.

Under the state's election code, a political committee that spends money on anything from pamphlets to telephone calls and mentions the name of a candidate in the next election is required to identify who paid for the communication.

"We're very confident that we're well within the law," Dring said. "And any objective attorney that looks at it will agree."